


I Think I like it Here

by Styx_in_the_mud



Series: The One Where They're All in College [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Loki is Creepy, Mad Science, Mad Scientists, Or I try anyway, Reluctant Science, Science, and Thor is a sweetheart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-14
Updated: 2013-11-14
Packaged: 2018-01-01 11:45:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1044442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Styx_in_the_mud/pseuds/Styx_in_the_mud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve wasn't sure why he chose to minor in physics, but right now, he has other things to worry about, like whether or not he'll survive the SciTech quad.</p><p>OR</p><p>There's a reason we hear about Mad Scientists, and not, say, Mad Mathematicians</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Think I like it Here

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how many of these subjects are actual things, oh, and I'm not sure if any of these major minor combinations are allowed, per say, and I can't bring myself to look through anymore college websites. Let's call it creative license. I don't own any of these characters, I just borrow them occasionally for my own amusement. I hope you enjoy my work of immense procrastination... I'm going to go work on my TOK essay and cry now.

Steve was definitely more interested in art than science. He'd never really been involved in the subject, aside from studying just enough to get him through the class, so he wasn't really sure what possessed him to choose physics as a minor. He supposed it would be helpful, considering he chose animation as his major, but he still wasn't confident in his decision. To make matters worse, he was a week late to arrive, because his body decided that it would be a good idea to fall sick the day before he was supposed to catch his flight, and the college (which usually tried to put students of the same major together) had made some sort of error concerning the housing applications, and Steve found himself assigned to the SciTech quad.  
He stood outside the sleek, shiny, and imposing building (so different from the quirky, colorful, mural-covered buildings that made up the arts quad), with two bags in his hands, staring up at it as the brisk autumn wind bit as his face. 

"Well here goes nothing" he muttered.

  
He had to swipe his ID card in order to get in, (which he personally thought was overkill, because come on, it was just the student dorms) and tried not to be impressed by the calm British voice announcing "Steven Rodgers entering”. There were sounds coming from the room at the end of the hall, so Steve figured he could find out where he was meant to go. He swiped his card again (and managed not to roll his eyes, because _honestly_ ) and heard the same British voice saying Steven Rogers entering (that might get annoying very soon) And then he stopped dead, jaw dropping, because inside the room was _absolute chaos_.

The first thing he saw was a gorgeous red-headed girl, dressed almost entirely in black leather, sitting on a chair near the door, typing on her laptop. Which didn't seem too odd, but then Steve looked closer, and realized that she was sitting (quite calmly) on _a chair of nails_. His eyes scanned the rest of the room, and saw a stocky boy with sandy hair performing a series of acrobatic maneuvers on a trampoline set up in the middle of the room. At a table at the back of the room, a slender boy with shoulder length black hair had a slightly insane grin on his face as he dropped a gummy bear in a test tube of potassium chlorate. In the corner, a guy with the beginnings of goatee and a girl with long dark hair were cackling madly as they stood outside a makeshift ring battling robots that on closer inspection, seemed to be built out of a broken Playstation. On the floor, next to the trampoline, a giant blonde guy was lying down, tossing sharpened pencils at a dartboard painted on the ceiling. A petite dark haired girl and a boy with curly black hair were working on some sort of machine that was occasionally making hissing sounds. A ping pong table was set up in the back of the room, where a strawberry blonde girl, her hair (more strawberry than blonde) tied in a ponytail was playing... against a mechanical arm. An African American guy was behind her, egging her on. Steve could understand the necessity for ID cards if this was par for course.

The girl who was sitting on the Chair of Doom (yes the capitals were all absolutely necessary) was the first to notice him, and called out, "Hey, JARVIS let the new guy in." All activity stopped, and they all turned to stare at him. Steve blushed. "Hi, um, I'm Steve. I'm majoring in animation" he tried to ignore the looks of surprise and a stage-whispered "is he in the right place?" and plowed on "and minoring in Applied Physics"

The blonde smiled at him from the ping pong table, "I'm Pepper" she pointed to the African American boy, who waved "and that's Rhodey. I'm majoring in organic chem, and he's in defense engineering." There was a whir behind them, which sounded an awful lot like a throat clearing, and Pepper grinned. "Oh and this is Dummy" she said pointing to the mechanical arm behind her. The machine gave a happy whir. Steve tried not to freak out.

"I'm Natasha" said the girl sitting on the Chair of Doom, "Majoring in Experimental Physics, so we might see each other in one or two classes" she shot him a smile, and went back to typing. The guy on the trampoline did one final back flip, before landing seated and cross-legged in the middle of it, bouncing slightly. "I'm Clint Barton, I'll be majoring in Experimental like Tasha, so I'll see you around, probably." Steve managed a slight nod.

The boy with the almost-goatee grinned at him, "The name's Tony, Tony Stark. You may have heard of me." he let Steve take that in (because who hadn't heard of Tony Stark), and seemed to bask in his awe, causing the other's to roll their eyes. "Anyway, this is Darcy, say hi Darce"  
"Hi Darce" quipped the girl next to him, waving cheerfully.  
"Very funny" said Tony, poking her in the side "anyway, I'm double majoring in Engineering and Nuclear Physics." Steve raised his eybrows, impressed, and Tony chuckled "and Darcy-"  
"Can actually speak for herself" she cut in with a mock glare at Tony who held up his hands in surrender. She shot a quick grin at Steve and said "I'm majoring in polisci, but minoring in Astrophysics" Steve's eyebrows were lost in his hairline, and she blushed slightly "It seemed fun" she said, "and hey, now that you're here, I won't be the only non science major!" she pumped her fist in the air, and Steve couldn't help but smile, because it looked like he wouldn't be the odd one out like he thought he would. ” Anyway, Jane's my roommate, she's actually majoring in Astrophysics, she's the one working on that demon device with Bruce over there. Don't know why they do it; we're pretty sure it's possessed." Jane calmly flipped Darcy off, before nodding at Steve and turning back to her machine.  
"Bruce is majoring in Nuclear Physics like yours truly" added Tony, "Great guy, Bruce, but try not to piss him off, or you'll regret it."  
Bruce, having heard his name, raised his head and seemed to notice Steve for the first time, and smiled at him, before he turned back to the machine. Steve didn't think he looked too bad.  
"Neither of them will tell us what it does, so we just assume they need it for nefarious purposes." Tony stage-whispered to Steve.  
"Shut _up_ Tony" chorused Jane and Bruce, without even lifting their heads, causing the others to snort and Tony to look mock offended.  
"And this is the big guy, Jane's boyfriend" said Darcy changing the subject (apparently Jane and Bruce were touchy about their machine), gesturing to the bear of a man still lying on the floor, though he was no longer tossing pencils at the ceiling.  
"I AM THOR." He boomed.  
"Thor, buddy, inside voice, man" said Clint covering his ears.  
"Apologies. I too am in the applied physics course" he grinned at Steve "I will be seeing you in class friend" Steve shot a bemused look at Clint, who shrugged and said, "we don't really know where she found him either."  
"I do not understand." said Thor looking confused  
Steve thought Thor was kind of like a giant Labrador puppy.  
"Allow me to introduce you to my brother, Loki" he gestured to the guy who was still incinerating gummy bears in the back of the room. "He is majoring in Theoretical Physics and minoring in Chemistry." Thor sounded like he couldn't be more proud.  
"He's our resident evil genius." muttered Tony "He's really creepy" Steve thought it was a bit rich coming from the guy who had, up until a few minutes ago, been laughing manically at battling robots, but didn't say anything. When Loki snapped his head up and looked Steve dead in the eye, lips curling into a Grinch-like smile, before he dropped another gummy bear to its inevitable death, he couldn't help but agree with Tony just a little bit.

Tony grinned, and said, "Let's get you settled in. You'll be sharing with me and Bruce, hope you don't mind" Steve shook his head.

"Come on, Rhodey and I'll show you the way" said Tony, grabbing one of Steve’s bags, just as Bruce shouted "Oh hell, everyone duck!" and Jane swore as the machine began spitting out bits of metal. Darcy ran to try and help her friends as the others hit the floor. Rhodey jumped up, grabbed Steve's other bag and practically pushed Tony (who was doubled up laughing) into the lobby, Steve hurriedly following behind. They could still hear the chaos in the rec room, and Tony wiped tears from his cheeks, only to catch Rhodey's eye, which sent both of them into hysterics. Steve gave a small smile of his own. It may take some getting used to, but he thinks he might like it here.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The Chair of Doom does actually [exist](http://stuckinsidethesnogbox.tumblr.com/post/66957497714), and if you haven't seen gummy bears and Potassium Chlorate, [you're missing out.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPn08gE32Hc)


End file.
